“It touches you in a different way when you’re doing something that is from your own people,” she tells EW.

On Outlander, Caitríona Balfe has spent five seasons dubbed “Sassenach,” a Scottish Gaelic word for an English person or outsider — but in Belfast, she’s anything but one: the Irish actress, 42, portrays a version of writer-director Kenneth Branagh’s mother.

Known simply as Ma and seen through the eyes of her 9-year-old son, Buddy (Jude Hill), she is struggling to raise and protect her two children in 1960s Belfast when the nationalist fighting known as the Troubles erupts, plunging their family and way of life into uncertainty.

“It was very present,” Balfe tells EW of the threat of violence that was a constant for her while growing up in the Republic of Ireland. “It was always on the news, and we had bomb scares in our town. Even though I didn’t grow up in Belfast or the North, it still felt very close.”

Balfe had long been searching for a story set in Ireland and was immediately touched by Branagh’s original script inspired by his own boyhood memories. “It touches you in a different way when you’re doing something that is from your own people,” she reflects. “Ma felt very familiar to me, and there were things about her struggle that I could relate to — things people in my family had gone through.”

Belfast doesn’t dwell on politics, but on the intimate impact a complex situation has on one family. “Very rarely do you get a script that deals with that kind of subject matter that isn’t in some way about the ideology,” she says. “I’d read so many scripts before that seemed to glorify one side or the other, and I wasn’t interested in being part of that conversation. This was something that really looked at the people and how everyday life was affected.”

I have added some new photos of Caitriona Balfe attending the ‘Belfast’ film screening in Los Angeles.

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The cast of Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” including Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe, Ciarán Hinds and Jude Hill, join CinemaBlend to discuss the thrilling tale of restless 1960’s Ireland. They discuss the uncanny chemistry between Ma and Pa, the incredible set pieces, Jamie Dornan’s likely award-contending ballad, and more!

Caitriona Balfe attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Focus Features’ “Belfast” at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on November 08, 2021 in Los Angeles. You can go to the gallery and enjoy over 350 HQ photos!

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Caitriona Balfe attends the Film Independent screening of “Belfast” at Harmony Gold on November 07, 2021 in Los Angeles. You can go to the gallery and enjoy the photos!

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I have added some photos of Caitriona Balfe in Belfast promoting her new film. You can go to the gallery and enjoy the photos! Crossing my fingers to get more.

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Caitríona Balfe welcomed her first child with husband Tony McGill in August

Caitríona Balfe’s life is now imitating her art.

The actress, 42, discussed her upcoming coming-of-age dramedy Belfast during an interview with Variety, including how her role influenced her decision to become a mom. In the film, Balfe plays the mother of a young boy amid the unrest in Northern Ireland in the 1960s.

She said it was “not long after” she wrapped shooting the movie that she found out she was going to become a mother in real life, too.

“I decided I was having so much fun playing a mother, I would just go for it,” she joked, adding that she thoroughly enjoyed spending time with some of the child actors on set — including Jude Hill, Lewis McAskie, and Lara McDonnell.

She continued, “They’re just the most amazing kids, their mums were so cool, I was in a bubble with them and I think it sort of gives you a kick just to be like ‘I’ll do it. Why not?’ ”

Balfe announced in August that she and her husband, music producer Tony McGill, had welcomed their first child together.

Caitriona Balfe attends a ‘Belfast’ special screening and cocktail reception, hosted by Eddie Redmayne at The Londoner on October 28, 2021 in London. You can go to the gallery to take a look to the photos and enjoy!

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